Overview of Brazil

Nature

Brazil's biodiversity is a wonder to behold. The country itself occupies nearly half the South American continent, and Brazil's Amazon rain forest alone is larger than India. Its distinct ecosystems—the Pantanal wetlands in the center-west, the Pampas temperate grasslands in the south, the Mata Atlântica tropical deciduous forest along the Atlantic coast, the cerrado savanna in the heart of the country, the caatinga tropical scrublands in the northeast, and the Amazon rain forest in the north—contain more than 100,000 animal species and roughly 45,000 plant species. According to the Brazilian government, some 700 new animals are discovered in the country each year. A new plant species is unearthed every two days.